By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, has been ``everywhere'' on a demanding schedule lately to encourage employees. This time, it's the construction site of a new steel plant of the conglomerate's steel maker affiliate.
The 70-year-old CEO visited Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, Monday, where the new Hyundai Steel plant is under construction, with National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyung-o. For about an hour, they inspected the site and also encouraged workers there.
``The construction is going fine, and due to be completed in 2010. A total of two trillion won will be injected into the project this year, and 2.1 trillion more next year,'' Chung said during a luncheon with the lawmaker.
``The new plant will also mitigate a chronic trade deficit with Japan, by replacing steel imports of up to $80 billion, or eight million tons, with its own products,'' he said.
After construction, the integrated mill, capable of all the functions of iron and steel making, and casting and rolling for primary steel production, will manufacture 6.5 million tons of hot-rolled coils and 1.5 million tons of thick plates in two blast furnaces with an annual four million tons capacity each.
Hyundai-Kia expects the project will also contribute to prep up the ailing economy by creating related jobs through its construction and operation, as well as in production.
About 35 percent of the construction has been completed two years after its ground breaking in October 2006, making it ahead of schedule. The business group predicts the new plant will be completed by October 2010, roughly a couple of months earlier than expected.
Blast furnaces in the mill will be the biggest in the country, standing 110 meters tall.
Another prominent feature of the new still mill is an ``eco-friendly'' system, which eliminates the production of the worst pollutants at integrated steel plants ― scattering dust.
Last month, Hyundai Steel put a dome-shaped roof on its airtight processing and storage unit, which will be a symbol of the mill. The 60-meter-high roof, a 130 meters in diameter, eliminates dust by delivering iron ore and soft coal directly from the port to the mill on airtight conveyer belts.